Houston, TX (April 6) -- After a sensational duel between two pitching staffs, the
University of Houston rallied for a 1-0 Conference USA win over visiting UAB
in the bottom of the 12th inning Friday night at Cougar Field. With the
extra-inning victory the Cougars' held on to sole possession of first place
in the C-USA standings over South Florida by a full two games.

Highlighted by starter Brad Sullivan's 8.0 innings and another 3.1 frames
by Nathan Mitchell, four members of the Houston pitching staff held UAB to
just two hits and one walk for 12 full shut out innings. The UAB staff
however matched the Houston shut out effort and no batter even reached third
base until the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Balzers worked out of that jam but UH finally converted a scoring
opportunity in the bottom of the 12th inning. Mitchell, who was brilliant in
striking out a career-high five batters in 3.1 hitless innings, drew a walk
with one out in the 12th. He then advanced two bases on an errant pickoff
attempt, bringing a man to third base for only the second time all game.

Houston then executed a squeeze play to perfection to score the winning
run. Mitchell broke for home and the next UH batter, Sean Allen, laid down a
bunt near the first base line which went unfielded by the defense. Mitchell
scored easily and also gave him the pitching decision, improving his record
to 2-1 on the year.

Overall Houston improved to 17-18 on the year and 9-1 in C-USA action. UAB
fell to 17-13 and 3-7. The teams will play game two of the three-game
conference series on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.